Australian teenager among Bali dead

KUTA, Bali - At least one Australian - a 16-year-old - is dead and nine others are injured, some seriously, after a string of deadly bombings tore through Bali killing at least 25 people and wounding around 100.

New Zealand is sending an official delegation to Bali to help find any Kiwis caught up in the latest attacks. There are currently no reports of injuries or deaths among New Zealanders though diplomatic staff are checking with hospitals and morgues.

Foreign Minister Phil Goff said the Government has been warning against non-essential travel to the area for some time. He said people become complacent, think Bali is a nice place, and do not imagine anything like this will happen to them.

The bombings have been condemned by British Prime minister Tony Blair and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

It is believed Jemaah Islamiah, a group linked to al Qaeda, is responsible for the latest string of attacks - the same group blamed for the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people.

Indonesian police are investigating whether suicide bombers were responsible for the attacks. Australian Prime Minister John Howard said the bombings were aimed at undermining the moderate leadership in the country.

"President (Susilo Bambang) Yudhoyono represents a threat to Islamic extremism," Howard told Australian television.

"He is the democratic, moderate face of Islam and he is somebody therefore that should be supported and helped. The terrorists know that and they want to undermine him."

CNN earlier put the total death toll at 36 but revised the figure downwards this afternoon.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer will convene a crisis meeting today to discuss the near simultaneous bombings.

He said one Australian was confirmed dead, with at least nine injured, some seriously.

There was no immediate confirmation from Canberra of reports that a second Australian had died. A spokesman for the Indonesian embassy in London has been quoted as saying two Australians are dead.

An emergency response team will leave Australia for Bali as soon as possible, a spokesman for Mr Downer said this morning.

The spokesman said travel advice for Indonesia had been reissued, warning all tourists and visitors in Bali to stay inside their hotels, and to let family and friends know they are safe.

The spokesman could not confirm ABC radio reports that at least 15 Australians are being treated at a specialist burns unit at Sanglah Hospital in Bali's main city Denpasar.

The burns unit was donated by Australia following the 2002 bombings.

Mr Downer said it was safe to assume that last night's bombings -- just 11 days shy of the third anniversary of the 2002 blasts -- were the work of the al-Qaeda linked JI, or a similar organised terrorist network.

In the latest attacks, two explosions ripped through beach-side seafood restaurants 100 metres apart in the fishing village of Jimbaran during the evening meal at about 7.30pm local time (11.30pm NZ time).

Minutes later witnesses said at least one blast tore through the Raja restaurant, 30km away in a busy shopping precinct in Kuta.

A couple, aged in their 40s or 50s, from Newcastle north of Sydney, are among the injured, according to Australian photographer Jason Childs who went to their aid.

Mr Childs, who lives in Bali, said he found the couple lying on the beach near the bombed restaurants at Jimbaran, one with a serious leg wound, the other apparently blinded by one of the blasts.

Mr Childs said the woman, who gave her name only as Jennifer, was covered in blood and had a huge open wound on her leg and was bleeding from shrapnel wounds to her body.

Her husband appeared to have been blinded by the explosion, Mr Childs said.

He said the two were taken in separate ambulances to a hospital.

For the second time in just a few years, Mr Downer today had to inform the nation that terrorists had taken Australian life in Bali.

"Tragically we now know that there has been one Australian who has been killed and three others who have been injured," Mr Downer said.

"It will take days before we are able to get some information from the Indonesians about who might be responsible.

"But you can just make assumptions, and the assumption you would make is that the well-known terrorist groups in Indonesia, particularly Jemaah Islamiah, would be responsible."

- AAP, NEWSTALK ZB, REUTERS